Why are you a Muslim?

Posted on 19th September, 2008 by

No, I’m not asking you, but sister Aaminah has been asking about people asking you, which is something I’ve found rather annoying over the years, as if I’m going to tell the story of five years of my life from 16 to 21 in five minutes, or perhaps they expect something dramatic when really it wasn’t (and what wasn’t smooth and ordinary, I’d rather not tell). Here is a set of questions for converts (with my responses, assuming she publishes them) about these questions and here is a poem she wrote about the subject. (More: Ginny.)

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  • http://WriteousSisterSpeaks.wordpress.com Aaminah

    Salaams. Why would I not publish your answers? They were very good, and led to a couple more questions. :)

    Thanks for linking to this. I really would like to know how other Muslims feel about this stuff, and I see some “bonding” going on in the comments, LOL. InshaAllah it will also make us all more sensitive before we start asking personal things.

    BTW, I’ve been reading your blog in my feeder, so I hadn’t seen that you changed your background and layout. It’s very nice. I love the green, and the rest is so sharp and clean. :)

  • http://www.ala-abbas.co.uk Ala

    Asking why someone is a Muslim is not the same as asking for the conversion story. The answer can be short and nothing to do with their personal life…

    “I believe Islam is the supreme Lord of the universe’s last revelation to man and the purpose of our existence, every single one of us from ant, tree, to gluon and Boson in the furthest reaches of the universe because..”

    It’s quite a claim and people understandbly want to know why. It’s nothing to do with converts, because people are just as curious as to why born Muslims continue to believe in it. Of course a lot of this phenomenon can be explained away as inertia, whereas with the convert it cannot be.

  • Thersites

    In my experience muslims are very eager to tell people why they are muslims and why people ought to be muslims without being asked. In fact, it was hard to stop them

  • http://WriteousSisterSpeaks.wordpress.com Aaminah

    Ala, actually, it is born Muslims who ask me more than anyone else, and it was born Muslims to whom I was referring in my post. It’s bad enough being asked for your conversion story (which is what my post is actually about), but now that you mention it, it is far more offensive when a born Muslim asks a convert “why are you a Muslim”. In my experience (and anecdotal sharings that others have provided), what they are usually doing is challenging our knowledge and using it as an opening to correct us on everything they can. In the majority of cases where I have been asked by a non-Muslim, they were openly hostile and didn’t really want an answer. It has only been an extremely rare case that I was asked sincerely “why are you Muslim” by someone who really wanted to understand why.

  • http://faatih.wordpress.com Faatih

    I deliberately avoid asking reverts about how they came to Islam as I know it would involve them having to repeat themselves, plus it can be irritating.